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Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Advocare Challenge Day 10: Part 1 Over.... On to Part 2 and my First Recipe Fail

So I've done it. I managed to complete Part 1 of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. The Cleanse Phase has come to an end and now I'm on to the "Max Phase". Don't ask me why they call it that, all I know is that I'm taking more pills than I ever through possible and carrying around the little packets makes me feel a little like Charlie Sheen. Minus the booze. I'm still trying to go easy on that.

I will spare you with daily blogs highlighting what I'm eating while embarking on the Max Phase; however, I'll post some good recipes that I try along the way and share with you successes as well as pitfalls. Then, when it's all over, I'll do some before-and-after and let you know how many total inches or pounds I've managed to drop.

So! As with the previous days, a quick recap of what I ate on Day 10 and then on to a weekend recap/first thoughts of "The Max Phase"

Friday, Day 10 Recap...Breakfast: A MRS on my way to work. I wasn't hungry when I woke up today so I've been begrudgingly drinking it at work. It still tastes really good, I'm just not that hungry but I know I haven't eaten anything since dinner last night and I need to get something in my stomach. I ended up only being able to drink half of it before my body said No Mas. Oh well, I'm glad I brought some good snacks.

How I'm Feeling: Still struggling with the chest congestion so anyone within earshot got to hear the super sexy hacking from my cube. You're welcome, fellow co-workers. My hacking has also turned into a wonderful headache/sore throat. I'm pretty sure based on the fact that I'm not really hungry, I'm exhausted, and my throat feels scratchy that it's not the allergies I originally thought. It figures that the minute I have a fun weekend away planned is when I get sick.

I also couldn't sleep last night (Thursday). I don't know if it was the fact that I knew I had a lot to do at work on Friday in a short period of time, or what...but I kept tossing and turning and then finally called it quits around 4:30 and woke up. Not so good considering Friday was a super long day working, packing and then traveling to Michigan with Chris for the weekend.

My Thoughts About the Cleanse Phase: Writing this at Day 14, I miss the cleanse. As much as I bitched and moaned about the fiber drink, I felt that it really filled me up. I was honestly concerned that the fiber drink was synonymous with "you're going to spend every waking moment in the bathroom, homegirl" but it wasn't true at all. Sure since I was drinking half of my body weight in ounces of water so I was peeing more than I thought possible, but other business? Not too much.

So results? Well I've lost 8 pounds in the first 10 days.

Not too shabby since I have no idea what I was expecting. Hopefully with increased workouts and continuing the change in diet I will be able to keep it up.

I just hope with the second phase I'll increase my workouts and get some weight lifting/strength training added.

So... onto part 2 of the challenge, shall we?

Honestly, planning ahead and heading to the grocery store to ensure I had food that I could eat was the most helpful part of the weekend. I was a little nervous about starting this phase while going away for the weekend since I didn't really know what food would be available, and I was going to be hanging out with people who could give me a run for my money when boozing, but by planning out what I was going to eat (grabbing some extra MRS for meals and healthy snacks), it really wasn't that big of a deal.

I carried around my blender bottle of water and dutifully avoided pasta salad, a pan of brownies, what I could assume as delicious crab dip, grilled bread, and rhubarb cheesecake. Instead, I feasted on fruit, salad, and grilled chicken. All in all, I can't really complain when I was around some very fun and very friendly people, but I would be a lying bastard if I didn't tell you I was about 4.8 seconds away from stealing the plate of brownies and running away with them.

I surprised myself with my willpower. Sure I would have loved to dive into the pasta salad (it had sundried tomatoes and feta cheese in it - yum!), but since I am not working out on the regular, I didn't feel comfortable abandoning what I'm trying to set myself up for.

After the challenge I figure I'll follow an 80/20 rule as long as I'm continuing to work out. 80% of the time I'll eat clean and stick to what I need to do. The other 20% of the time, I'll give in to my indulgences.

So I stuck to the healthy stuff and took so many trips up and down the sandy-hill to get to the lake/beach that I feel like I should have the best glutes in Illinois right now. The only unfortunate thing is that since I'm sick and struggling with a chest cold, as I was hoofing it in the sand on the beach or back up the arduous hill to the house, I felt like my lungs were filled with gunk and by the time I got to the house I was winded. Hello embarrassed.

Which also bums me out because I was looking forward to working out today but since I can't go 30 minutes without coughing (I'm sure my coworkers were beyond pleased that I came to work), doing anything that would involve intense exercise or quick movements is out. At least I can attempt yoga and if moving from down dog to plank to leg high is too much, I'll work on stretching it out.

So after getting back from the weekend, I discovered that in true "I love you so let me share things with you" fashion, I managed to get Chris sick. Dealing with two sick people in one house wasn't too much fun, and I didn't have a lot of energy yesterday, so rather than grill out for Memorial Day, I spent a good part of the morning sipping on an orange spark and meal planning for the week, then managed to drag my ass off the couch to go to the store. I snagged some stuff to grill out, but since we were too exhausted to even drag out charcoal and light a grill, we ended up ordering delivery.

In the past I probably would have just headed for a go-to comfort food: Sweet and Sour Chicken and Crab Rangoons.

Instead, I scoured Grub Hub looking for any delivery places that matched the terms "Healthy" or "Gluten Free" that would also be able to have food that Chris could eat.

A break before I move on: I understand that I'm eating a bit differently now. I also understand that my diet is not reflective of the choices that anyone else ismaking or should make. Ya'll can eat what you want. If you want to drive head-first into a vat of ice cream, a giant pizza, or a cheeseburger the size of Alaska? Enjoy. I'm not going to judge, lecture, or sneer at you. In fact, chances are I won't even bat an eye if you ask me if I'd like to join. It's your life and it's your decisions.

I don't ever want to force someone to follow what I'm eating. They're my choices. So I really try to be mindful when I'm visiting someone, I'm out with people, or I'm planning on cooking for people other than myself, that people have different tastes and needs than I do.

End rant.

Enter Chicago's Pizza. They had what Chris requested, and I was able to find an option that didn't leave me frustrated or depressed (I had a mini-meltdown on Chris the day before after realizing that I was hungry and didn't have anything in the fridge).

Another great thing about the program so far? I'm finding that I'm eating way smaller portions. I would have gladly devoured the entire portion of chicken a few months prior (seriously - it was delicious). Now, I ate the salad and part of the chicken, saving the rest of the portion for my lunch tomorrow. Good decisions.

Also, I want to apologize for not including a recipe with this update. Before leaving for the lake on Friday, I attempted to make a dessert that was Advocare/Paleo friendly since I absolutely hate going anywhere empty handed (if you invite me into your home expect me to bring dinner, dessert, or at least a bottle of wine). Enter Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

As the cake was baking, the apartment was filled with the smell of deliciousness. It was amazing. I peeked at the cake to rotate it around the oven and everything was baking perfectly.

When the time was up, I peeked at the cake, tested it with the point of a knife and everything was all good. I let the cake cool, flipped it over onto the sheet and when I removed the cake pan saw a spongey grey mess.

Awesome.

So thinking that I could save it, I popped it in the oven to try to brown the top and let the cake finish. While cooking, I tasted some of the crumbs from the pan and realized that my new recipe was quite possibly the absolute worst thing I've ever made.

Back to the oven I went, took the damn cake out and threw that entire SOB in the trash.

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About Me

Hi! I'm Liesl and welcome to my ever-changing blog. I'm a former teacher, culinary-school drop-out, bartender/server/retail-whore/line cook turned 9-5 professional. I live my life sarcastically, energetically, and full of good food and amazing people. Join me on my journey with a full glass of wine and a healthy appetite.